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The Elis traveled to Bridgeport last weekend to play in the second annual Connecticut Ice tournament: a meeting between the four Division I men’s hockey teams from the Constitution State.

Hosted at the Webster Bank Arena, home of the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, the Yale men’s hockey team (5–12–1, 4–7–1 ECAC) were trounced 5–1 by the University of Connecticut (12–11–0, 8–6–0 HE), and fell further in a 4–3 overtime loss in a consolation game against Sacred Heart University (10–13–3, 7–9–2–2 AHA).

“Last weekend was not our best weekend,” goalie Nate Reid ’24 said. “We have learned what we can from it and have put it behind us.”

In the second minute of the game, defenseman Michael Young ’23, making a switch to forward due to scratches on the team, rebounded a shot by forward Reilly Connors ’24 from the low slot to give Yale an early lead with his first goal of the season. Despite the strong start, the Huskies answered with a five-goals salvo over the first and second periods. In the 16th minute, UConn forward Vladislav Firstov took a feed from forward Kevin O’Neil and redirected it at the right post for his first goal of the game.

Twenty-seven seconds later, blueliner Harrison Rees fired the puck wide from the high point, which was rebounded and found O’Neil, who tucked it in at the left post to score. Thirteen seconds into the second period, UConn forward Carter Turnbull threw the puck off a Yale defender and past Bulldog goaltender Luke Pearson ’25 to add another tally.

In the second minute, O’Neil picked up a pass behind the goal and fed it to Firstov, who fired into the high slot to score. The Huskies’ fifth and final goal was a rebounded chip out of the air by Jachym Kondelik in the 18th minute.

Pearson stopped 33 shots over the course of the game, with UConn holding a 38–29 shot advantage.

“Yale came out I thought with a great start,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said to SNY Newsdesk. “I knew that they would come out with a great start tonight. I have a lot of respect for their team and how hard they play, but I was really happy with the response we had.”

While UConn went off to the championship game to take on No. 2 Quinnipiac, which ended with a 2–0 Bobcat victory, the Elis had to settle for a consolation match with Sacred Heart on Sunday. The teams needed extra time to settle the tie game, resulting in a 4–3 loss for Yale.

In the first period of regulation, the Bulldogs scored twice, with forward Henry Wagner ’24 scoring in the 13th minute and forward Ian Carpentier ’24 making the second 15:51 into the period. Nearing the end of the period, Pioneer forward Ryan Steele narrowed the Bulldog lead to one with his ninth goal of the year.

“Our coaches do a great job at preparing us physically and mentally prior to games on weekends,” Carpentier said. “Nothing changes after a big weekend. We keep preparing the same way, every single day, ready for our next task.”

Just over 15 minutes into the second period, Sacred Heart forward Braeden Tuck tied the game, and less than a minute later, Bulldog forward Kyle Johnson ’22 reclaimed Yale’s lead with a goal of his own.

Three minutes into the final period of regulation, SHU forward Dante Palecco, a transfer from Yale during the pandemic, fired on his former team and found success, sending the game into overtime. Forward Todd Goehring shot the game-winning goal 3:20 into overtime.

“A lot of respect goes out to Yale,” Sacred Heart head coach C.J. Marottolo said to the Pioneer Report. “They played a real, hard game. They took away a lot of our time and space, but we stuck with it, and I think we learned a lot about our group today.”

Despite trailing on the scoreboard, Yale was outshot 26–20. Reid made 22 saves for the Bulldogs.

Over the course of the tournament, Carpentier had four goals and five points and was named ECAC Player of the Week.